 |
|
Trabant, "Moment of Truth"
Trabant is the second act to be released by Icelandic label TMTEntertainment, and much like Múm, it's a charming, unexpected treat.This debut full-length album, which follows the EP release of 'EnterSpacebar' has gained a ton of ground already, being nominated for bestdebut album in the 2001 Icelandic Music Awards and featured in the NewYork Times as Reykjavik's most interesting new band.
The stylesflip-flop all around between groovy, laid back, super-cool vocal tuneslike "Bluesbreaker," to the campy, kitchy soon-to-be classic, "BahamaBanana," beefy instrumentals like the album opener and first single,"Enter Spacebar," stunning, monumental digital orchestral movementslike "Himnalalala," and "Happy Sunny Song," short guitar interludes, tothe cute yet questionably motivated album closer, "Superman." It's nosurprise that with the schizophrenic variety of styles and saturatedinstrumentation this album took six months to record, even with thehelp of super producer/guru Thor of Thule Musik Studios and despite theduo's decade of extensive experience in the Icelandic music scene. Atany given moment, the songs bear a multitude of influences, like thevocal styles of Can's Damo Suzuki, basslines as fierce as some ofPrince's strongest hooks, hyper psychedelics from cheap organs orping-pong old-school game-like sounds of Kraftwerk. Toss in the quirkyartwork like a cover which features Scandinavian-looking children ofthe mid-80s pasted into a rank basement discotheque and a booklet whichfeatures collages of photos with black-and-white stock imagery and theend result is undeniably one of the most unique yet entertainingreleases I've heard in a long time. What are they feeding theseIcelandics? -
The stylesflip-flop all around between groovy, laid back, super-cool vocal tuneslike "Bluesbreaker," to the campy, kitchy soon-to-be classic, "BahamaBanana," beefy instrumentals like the album opener and first single,"Enter Spacebar," stunning, monumental digital orchestral movementslike "Himnalalala," and "Happy Sunny Song," short guitar interludes, tothe cute yet questionably motivated album closer, "Superman." It's nosurprise that with the schizophrenic variety of styles and saturatedinstrumentation this album took six months to record, even with thehelp of super producer/guru Thor of Thule Musik Studios and despite theduo's decade of extensive experience in the Icelandic music scene. Atany given moment, the songs bear a multitude of influences, like thevocal styles of Can's Damo Suzuki, basslines as fierce as some ofPrince's strongest hooks, hyper psychedelics from cheap organs orping-pong old-school game-like sounds of Kraftwerk. Toss in the quirkyartwork like a cover which features Scandinavian-looking children ofthe mid-80s pasted into a rank basement discotheque and a booklet whichfeatures collages of photos with black-and-white stock imagery and theend result is undeniably one of the most unique yet entertainingreleases I've heard in a long time. What are they feeding theseIcelandics? - samples:
